Consisting of 99% air, aerogel is the world’s lightest stable. This distinctive materials has discovered function in a number of types — from NASA missions to excessive vogue.
Pushed by the will to create a 3D cloud, Greek artist, Ioannis Michaloudis, discovered to make use of aerogel as an inventive medium. His journey spanning greater than 25 years took him to the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT) in Cambridge; Shivaji College in Maharashtra, India, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
A researcher at MIT launched Michaloudis to aerogel after listening to of his cloud-making ambition, and he was instantly intrigued. Aerogel is made by combining a polymer with a solvent to create a gel and flash-drying it below strain, leaving a stable stuffed with microscopic pores.
Scientists at JPL selected aerogel within the mid-Nineties to allow the Stardust mission, with the concept that a porous floor might seize particles whereas flying on a probe behind a comet. Aerogel labored in lab exams, but it surely was troublesome to fabricate persistently and wanted to be made space-worthy. NASA JPL employed supplies scientist Steve Jones to develop a flight-ready aerogel, and he ultimately received funding for an aerogel lab.
The Stardust mission succeeded, and when Michaloudis heard of it, he reached out to JPL, the place Jones invited him to the lab. Now retired, Jones recalled, “I went by way of the primer on aerogel with him, the completely different sorts you might make and their completely different properties.” The scale of Jones’ reactor, enabling it to make giant objects, impressed Michaloudis. With tips about easy methods to safely function a big reactor, he outfitted his personal lab with one.
In India, Michaloudis discovered recipes for aerogels that may be molded into giant objects and don’t crack or shrink throughout drying. His continued work with aerogels has created an intensive artwork portfolio.
NASA was a vital step alongside the way in which. “I’m what I’m, and we made what we made because of the Stardust undertaking,” mentioned Michaloudis.
